KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Heavy floodwaters swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled onto roads Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa came ashore as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council, urged people to seek shelter and stay indoors as the storm crosses the island.

“Jamaica, this is not the time to be brave,” he said.

The Jamaican government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of devastating damage from the strongest hurricane to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.”

Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported as Melissa came ashore near New Hope, with officials cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow. The storm is expected head toward Cuba, where intermittent rain was falling.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities. He was sheltering with his grandmother in Portmore, where everything went dark earlier in the day after a loud explosion.

“The noise is relentless,” he said. “People are anxious and just trying to hold on until the storm passes.”

Massive wind damage is expected in Melissa’s core and Jamaica’s highest mountains could see gusts of up to 200 mph (322 kph), said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“It’s going to be a very dangerous scenario,” he said, warning that there would be “total building failures.”

Hurricane Melissa’s 185 mph (295 kph) winds and 892 millibars of central pressure tied two records for the strongest Atlantic storm on landfall. The pressure — the key measurement meteorologists use — ties 1935’s Labor Day hurricane in Florida. The wind speed ties the 1935 hurricane and 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, said hurricane scientists Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University and Brian McNoldy of the University of Miami.

“It’s been a remarkable just a beast of a storm,” Klotzbach told The Associated Press.

On Tuesday evening, Melissa had top sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph) as its center exited Jamaica and moved into the Caribbean Sea, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane was centered about 15 miles (20 kilometers) east of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and about 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) is expected across southern Jamaica, with officials concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coast. Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, “and (we) hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place.”

One man called a radio station saying he urgently needed to help a woman in western Jamaica who had gone into labor as the storm neared landfall. The show’s host pleaded with listeners to let him know the safest hospital before an obstetrician called in to provide detailed directions on how to deliver a baby, if necessary.

In Kingston, officials warned residents of the surrounding area to watch out for crocodiles that might be displaced from their habitats by flooding.

McKenzie said the government was prepared for rescues immediately after the storm passes through: “We have boats, helicopters, you name it.”

The storm already was blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

More than 240,000 customers were without power before landfall and about one-fourth of the telecommunications system was offline ahead of the storm, said Darryl Vaz, transport and energy minister. He said crews will clean and run tests at the island’s two main international airports Wednesday in hopes of receiving emergency relief flights as early as Thursday.

U.N. agencies and dozens of nonprofits had food, medicine and other essential supplies positioned as they awaited a distribution rush after the storm.

Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s water and environment minister, said he had more than 50 generators available to deploy after the storm, but warned people to set aside clean water and use it sparingly.

“Every drop will count,” he said.

Melissa was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain was forecast in areas, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged the population to not underestimate the power of the storm, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.”

In the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, people streamed into the home of 83-year-old Eduviges Figueroa at the foot of the Sierra Maestra mountains to seek shelter after fleeing their homes in remote areas by bus, truck and even horse-drawn carts.

“We’re helping as best we can,” she said. “Now I’m cooking for everyone.”

People in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city with more than 1 million inhabitants, spent Tuesday frantically preparing. Few people were on the streets, while state television showed Cubans in rural areas rounding up animals and protecting crops.

Diamon Mendoza, 36, did not hide her concern about the unavoidable storm.

“May God have mercy on us, because it’s coming with a lot of strength,” Mendoza said. “Anything can happen.”

Authorities in eastern Holguín province prepared to evacuate more than 200,000 people Tuesday and evacuated a similar number of people earlier from the town of Banes.

Reports on social media and state television showed blue and white buses ferrying evacuees to shelter early Tuesday. Families clutched babies and belongings and elderly people steadied themselves with canes as they disembarked.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press journalists Geir Moulson in Berlin, Andrea Rodríguez in Havana, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Ariel Fernández in Santiago de Cuba contributed to this report.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa intensified to Category 5 strength Monday as it neared Jamaica, where forecasters said it would unleash catastrophic flooding, multiple landslides and extensive infrastructure damage. It would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record keeping began in 1851.

Melissa, blamed for six deaths in the northern Caribbean as it headed toward the island, was forecast to make landfall on Jamaica on Tuesday and then Cuba later in the day before heading toward the Bahamas, but it was not expected to affect the United States.

Hanna Mcleod, a 23-year-old hotel receptionist in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, said she will have to work during the hurricane, but that her husband and brother will be at her house, where they boarded the windows and she left candles and flashlights scattered throughout.

“I just told them to keep the door closed,” she said. “I am definitely worried. This is actually the first time I’ll be experiencing this type of hurricane.”

Mcleod said she bought her favorite canned food, corned beef, but that other members of her family prefer mackerel, “so I got a lot of those.”

Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph (250 kph). Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to directly hit the small Caribbean nation, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

Porter said that critical infrastructure including Jamaica’s main international airport and power plants are located along the coast in Kingston, where a storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) was expected.

“This can become a true humanitarian crisis very quickly, and there is likely going to be the need for a lot of international support,” Porter said in a phone interview.

On Monday morning, Melissa was centered about 135 miles (220 kilometers) southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 320 miles (515 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph) and was moving west at 3 mph (5 kph), the center said.

Some areas in eastern Jamaica could see up to 40 inches (1 meter) of rain while western Haiti could get 16 inches (40 centimeters), according to the hurricane center. “Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” it warned.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered in seven flood-prone communities in Jamaica, with buses ferrying people to safe shelter.

The slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing. Two people died in Jamaica over the weekend as they cut trees ahead of the storm, according to the country’s emergency management office.

“I want to urge Jamaicans to take this seriously,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council. “Do not gamble with Melissa. It’s not a safe bet.”

The hurricane was expected to make another landfall later Tuesday in eastern Cuba. A hurricane warning was in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain were forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

A tropical storm warning also remained in effect for Haiti.

Melissa could be the strongest hurricane Jamaica has experienced in decades, said Evan Thompson, principal director at Jamaica’s meteorological service. He warned that cleanup and damage assessment would be severely delayed because of anticipated landslides, flooding and blocked roads.

It would be the first time in recent history that a storm of Category 4 or higher makes landfall in Jamaica, Thompson said.

He noted that Hurricane Gilbert was a Category 3 storm when it hit the island in 1988. Hurricanes Ivan and Beryl were both Category 4, but they did not make landfall, Thompson said.

In addition to the rainfall, Melissa is likely to cause a life-threatening storm surge on Jamaica’s southern coast, peaking around 13 feet (4 meters) above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall, the U.S. center said.

“Don’t make foolish decisions,” warned Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s transport minister. “We are in a very, very serious time over the next few days.”

The storm already has dropped heavy rain in the Dominican Republic, where schools and government offices were ordered to remain closed on Monday in four of nine provinces still under red alert.

Melissa damaged more than 750 homes across the country, displacing more than 3,760 people. Floodwaters also have cut access to at least 48 communities, officials said.

In neighboring Haiti, the storm destroyed crops in three regions, including 15 hectares (37 acres) of maize at a time when at least 5.7 million people, more than half of the country’s population, is experiencing crisis levels of hunger, with 1.9 million of those facing emergency levels of hunger.

“Flooding is obstructing access to farmland and markets, jeopardizing harvests and the winter agricultural season,” the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization said.

Melissa was expected to keep dumping heavy rain over parts of Haiti as it moves northeast in upcoming days.

A hurricane watch was in effect for the southeastern and central Bahamas and for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Melissa was nearly stationary in the central Caribbean on Friday as forecasters warned it could strengthen and swipe Jamaica as a powerful hurricane and dump a staggering amount of rain — up to 35 inches (89 centimeters) — on southwest Haiti, where they warned of catastrophic flooding and landslides.

The erratic storm was expected to drop copious rain on Jamaica and the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. At least three people were killed in Haiti, and one person was killed and one reported missing in Dominican Republic.

“These heavy rains are just going to sit over one area for several days,” said Jamie Rhome, deputy director at the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The storm was located about 190 miles (310 kilometers) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 225 miles (360 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving north at 2 mph (4 kph), the U.S. center said.

A hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning were in effect for Jamaica and Haiti’s southwest peninsula.

The center of Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica early next week, forecasters said.

Up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain is forecast for parts of Jamaica, southern Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic through Tuesday. Up to 35 inches of rain is possible across Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula, the center said. That was considered an unusually high amount even for a slow-moving storm.

The storm is then forecast to hit eastern Cuba as a major hurricane early Wednesday, where up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) could fall in some areas.

The National Hurricane Center warned that “heavy rainfall will result in catastrophic flash flooding and landslides across southwestern Haiti into early next week.”

It noted that strong winds could also last for a day or more over Haiti’s Tiburon peninsula.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said a landslide in Port-au-Prince killed two people and injured another, with the death toll rising to three. Earlier this week, a large tree fell on an elderly man in southern Haiti and killed him, while five other people in the country’s central region were injured in flooding,

The U.N. said it has prepared more than 100 emergency shelters in Haiti’s southern region.

Wilgar Joseph said he and his family were leaving their home in Les Cayes out of safety because it has a zinc roof.

“I’ll stay with a friend whose home is on higher ground so I can protect myself in case it gets out of control,” he said.

Meanwhile, thousands of people living in makeshift shelters across Port-au-Prince after gangs forced them to flee their homes worried about the storm.

“The message on the radio is to protect ourselves,” said Dina Georges. “How can I protect myself if I don’t have a home? I’m on the streets. And on top of that, I have two kids to protect.”

Nephtali Johnson Pierre, 35, echoed those sentiments: “I’m dealing with two storms: the gangs and the weather.”

Melissa was expected to move toward Jamaica over the weekend. It was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane by Saturday and become a major hurricane by Sunday, possibly reaching Category 4 status before dawn on Monday.

Forecasters said that Jamaica could see life-threatening flooding and landslides because the ground is already saturated from recent heavy rains unrelated to the storm.

The storm is moving so slowly that parts of Jamaica could experience hurricane conditions for 72 hours or longer, said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather’s lead hurricane expert.

“Melissa is evolving into a slow-motion disaster,” he said. “Millions of people are at risk of catastrophic impacts. We are increasingly concerned about the threat of a humanitarian disaster unfolding, especially if this storm stalls.”

Marcus Thompson, who lives in Kingston, said he covered his windows and stocked up on water and canned food.

“We’ve been through storms before, but it’s better to be prepared early this time,” he said.

Others checked their roofs, cleaned gutters and charged electrical devices.

“I moved my car to higher ground and gathered all essential documents just in case,” said Alton Williams, who lives in Mandeville.

In eastern Kingston, Veronica James said she was following updates and keeping her children informed.

“If officials decide evacuation is necessary, we have a small bag ready with medicine and important papers,” she said.

Schools, health centers and government offices closed across Jamaica on Thursday, with authorities warning that all airports would close within 24 hours if a hurricane warning is issued. More than 650 shelters were activated.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the storm’s slow movement posed planning difficulties but noted the public sector would close by Friday afternoon.

“Jamaica is at risk,” he said. “There is a threat.”

The Bahamas’ Foreign Affairs Ministry announced it would evacuate Bahamian students out of Jamaica on Friday ahead of the storm.

The storm has damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights and unleashed a couple of small landslides.

All public schools across the Dominican Republic were closed Friday, as were government offices in 12 provinces under alert. More than two dozen communities were cut off by floodwaters.

“This is an event that we should be following minute by minute,” said Juan Manuel Méndez García, emergency operations director in the Dominican Republic.

Officials noted that evacuations in areas under alert were mandatory.

“The main thing here is to save lives. The risk is the enormous amount of rain,” said Dominican President Luis Abinader.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.

Myers Jr. reported from Kingston, Jamaica and Sanon from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.